Which card to use where - comparison tool?

Idiophreak

Hi There,

Just wondered if there's a tool anywhere online that calculates the best card(s) for you to use in each shop to get the best return.

For instance, I currently use a nectar cc for Sainsburys shopping and fuel, and a tesco cc for tesco and fuel and most other stuff (spend clubcard points on deals).

It's already occurred to me that I have an M&S card and an Amazon card - I presume I'm better off putting M&S and Amazon cards on these, instead...but can I be sure? And would I be better off, overall, by ditching all of them and just using a cashback cc?

Seems like something someone should have built a calculator for - but I can't seem to find one?

InsideInsurance

TBH it I would argue it is next to impossible to do what you are saying.

You cannot assign a true value to a point because it depends on what you use them for as many schemes have a different effective value depending on redemption method. So comparing the value of 1 Tesco Clubcard point when spent on groceries is very different to using that same point toward upgrading a flight from Economy to Upper class with Virgin Atlantic

Secondly, with certain schemes like the Amex MR there are frequently bonuses either on points earning or points redemption which makes the calculation even harder

Thirdly, some schemes, particularly cashback, are tiered and so depends on your total spend not just a one off transaction.

I guess you could do a crude tool where you specify your objective (eg flight rewards) and it ignores promotions but then it may be that a scheme that doesnt allow transfer to a frequent flier scheme isnt listed but actually is the best deal

Idiophreak

InsideInsurance wrote: »

TBH it I would argue it is next to impossible to do what you are saying.

You cannot assign a true value to a point because it depends on what you use them for as many schemes have a different effective value depending on redemption method. So comparing the value of 1 Tesco Clubcard point when spent on groceries is very different to using that same point toward upgrading a flight from Economy to Upper class with Virgin Atlantic

Secondly, with certain schemes like the Amex MR there are frequently bonuses either on points earning or points redemption which makes the calculation even harder

Thirdly, some schemes, particularly cashback, are tiered and so depends on your total spend not just a one off transaction.

I guess you could do a crude tool where you specify your objective (eg flight rewards) and it ignores promotions but then it may be that a scheme that doesnt allow transfer to a frequent flier scheme isnt listed but actually is the best deal

I think the "crude" tool is what I was imagining...So if you say you've got a club card, it says "do you do deals?" and you tick yes or no. Or you can say (as you say) I want the most airmiles, or the most hard cash and it works it out.

So it asks what cards you've got, what outcome you're after and what you spend where each month - and spits out your best bet - and recommendations that would be better.

I don't think it would be perfect (for the reasons you've mentioned and others), but I thought someone would have tried it.

InsideInsurance

The challenge is the fact you have 3 groups of cards... cashback, voucher points and deals only points (though some vouchers can be spent on deals too)

To compare against the board you must assign a cash value to all three, for the first two it isnt so hard as you default to the vouchers cash value but for the deals only ones (eg Amex) it becomes much harder because there is no default option

Idiophreak

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The challenge is the fact you have 3 groups of cards... cashback, voucher points and deals only points (though some vouchers can be spent on deals too)

To compare against the board you must assign a cash value to all three, for the first two it isnt so hard as you default to the vouchers cash value but for the deals only ones (eg Amex) it becomes much harder because there is no default option

Yeah, you're probably right. Sigh, I guess that means I'll actually have to work something out for myself - how laborious

InsideInsurance

Its a reasonable idea and a challenge that I'd be up to coding but would need to crack the comparison basis for all card types and also how to illustrate the cumulative benefits (eg free flights with BA cards, higher cashback rate on Capital One etc)

Idiophreak

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Its a reasonable idea and a challenge that I'd be up to coding but would need to crack the comparison basis for all card types and also how to illustrate the cumulative benefits (eg free flights with BA cards, higher cashback rate on Capital One etc)

I think you'd have to get people to choose and rate different kinds of reward and use that as a multiplier...

So if you say flights is a 6 and you could get £50 worth of flights on a BA card, you end up with a score of 300...so it would still show £40 cash as being preferable if you scored it > 7.5..I guess you give each combination the score (or just show them in order), then let people drill down to each of the rewards and how they get it.

So if, for instance, I decided I wanted to go on holiday, I could go to my ratings, change flights to 10 or uncheck everything else and see the best deals going for flights only...

There's really are a lot of different bits and pieces to think about, though...And I think a "best guess" is as good as you'd ever get...so it makes you wonder if it's worth it.